Saturday, December 01, 2007

Keeps me off the street

I have had a phrase since I bought this house "Well, it keeps me off the street...". A person might think that it is because owning property gave me a sense of place, confidence of where my home is. Maybe it does, but I was being more literal. I don't have the time to wander anymore.

Keeping up a 1890's farmhouse never ends. There are the seasonal items; opening the storms in the spring, Mowing in the summer closing everything back up in the fall, snow removal in the winter. Then there is the re-occurring maintenance; exterior paint, clearing blocked drains, etc. Then it gets into repairs. Fixing a blown outlet. Replacing a bad motor in an appliance. Broken windows. Maybe a leak hear or there. Replace an aging heat plant or water heater. Then comes remodeling. Strip some wall paper and repaint. Maybe a new bathroom. New counters in the kitchen. And if your really ambitious, maybe there will be expansion projects. Add heat to a room that had none. I don't have time to run the streets like I used to.

Right now I am trying to solve a leak on the front porch. I have repainting major areas staring me in the face. I am trying to get the winterization projects finished (plastic on the back storm door, cover any windows without storms). I need to convert the radiant floor from an open domestic over to a closed system off the steam boiler. I have a long list of less important remodeling items. Repairing flaws on the wallpaper, dings on the molding. Kitchen cabinets for my wife. Putting up shelves. I can't say or hear that without thinking of the threes company episode.

And on the seventh day, I try to blog a little.

I have a home I have a place and some days it threatens to consume me.

About

About Me

In addition to my other pursuits, for the last nine years I have run a cooperative household in my victorian farmhouse. I try to provide a low commitment housing arrangement where working people can find a comfortable home like environment that doesn't take all their energy.
Over the last couple of years, we have begun keeping livestock and raising more of our own food. We started with guineas and a medium sized garden. Now we have graduated into Chickens, Goats and Turkeys, a large garden, selling produce at farmers markets, making cheese and looking for more.